Yo. I remember seeing this video for the first time. It always cracks me up how, if you’ve been to a more “urban” rap show, rappers would always have like 5 – 10 of their friends just up on stage bouncing around.

Kanye, in true Kanye fashion, took this idea and multiplied it a billion times. AND IT’S AWESOME. The flame throwers are what really got to me. Once I saw those, I was like Kanye damn did it again.

The track was produced by newcomer Velous (with coproduction from a whole lotta people). Velous came up by producing beats for French Montana.

That growly bass used sparingly in the song is a great touch. As much as I love the true 808 basses, I like how Kanye really diversifies and makes the beats he uses standout from typical trap tracks. That wall of brass bass and chorus is also awesome. Followed by some nice contrast with the angelic singing and the Allan Kingdom hook.
My favorite line in the whole song is the Denzel Washington reference. Come on Ye, that’s David Palmer from 24. The followup line is also super dope. “If you run into me, you better have Allstate with ya.”

This is a very visually entertaining book. I’ve been meaning to read it for a while but just could not find in any local libraries. Until yesterday, I found that it was really just hiding in the teen section for a library I go to quite often. Lots of pretty pictures and lots of great insight.

I mean, let’s admit it. Unless you’re from Seattle, the most exciting part of that Super Bowl really was the halftime show. I mean, don’t get me wrong, props to the Seahawks for being awesome and dominant, but I don’t think anyone saw that coming at all.

I feel like the Bruno Mars haters are a bit out of line. There are always people talking about, wow I wish music was the used it to be.

Well, muthafucka, here it is! Bruno Mars is a direct throwback to the good old 40s 50s 60s style of music. Just a pure out powerful voice, James Brown dance moves and inhouse songwriting that makes a complete entertainer !

A while back I wrote an article on why it is a great idea to play as many open mics as you possibly can. And I still believe in that idea. It’s all about experience, experience and more experience. Those minutes spent add up and before long you’ll start seeing a major difference in your entire swagger.

But then it came to me, another great reason to play open mics.

You get to see what the crowd responds to. I’ve noticed which songs get the least crowd response and which one gets the girls dancing. Note to self, write more songs like those.

Rhythm is SOOOO important when it comes to songwriting. Learning that backbeat and learning how to count to 4 is the most fundamental and important a musician needs to learn. All of pop music follows that 4/4 pulse. Take this Avicii and start counting 1 2 3 4.